There is a very useful thing in the Windows operating system. It's called "Device Manager" or something else. Device Manager.
How to access device manager?
To find Device Manager in Windows, right-click on the " My computer" and select the item " Control".
Next in the side column of the window " Computer management"we are looking for an item" device Manager" and click on it. In the central area of the window we will see what equipment the computer consists of. We can say that this is the anatomy of a particular computer.
Here you can see what hard drive is installed and how many of them are in the system, what central processor is used, the model of the video card is indicated, the presence of network adapters (network cards) is shown, and much more.
Alternative way to open Device Manager: Button " Start", Further " Control Panel", then select " system and safety", then in the window we look for the section " System". It contains a link to " device Manager", she looks like this.
How can Device Manager be useful?
For laptops, one of the main problems is energy saving, since in offline mode power is provided by the battery. To reduce energy consumption, you can use various software utilities, which, as a rule, are installed on any laptops and desktop PCs.
But there is another way. You can turn off unused or rarely used devices. You can disable, for example, the built-in video camera, wired or wireless network card, host controllers of unused interfaces (for example, IEEE 1394 host controller). All of these devices are real electronic devices that consume battery power even when they are not in use and are in " sleep mode».
Another example.
Many modern all-in-one computers are equipped with a touch screen. When using the Windows 7 operating system, having touch controls is not always convenient and sometimes undesirable. Some touch screens are very sensitive and even react to insects (flies, midges, spiders, etc.). So, for example, I had to disable the touch screen on the Sony Vaio VPCL14S1R all-in-one PC, since random triggering from insects created inconvenience. You can rummage through the settings, but the easiest way is to disable the device that is responsible for touch input. In this particular case, the touch panel was registered in the manager as NextWindow 1950 Touch Screen In chapter " HID devices (Human Interface Devices)".
How to disable a device in Device Manager?
You must select the device you want to disable. For example, I want to disable a wired network card because I only use a wireless one. Find the item " Network adapters", click on the arrow so that the tab opens and all devices belonging to this category appear. As you can see, I have two network cards on my computer:
Wireless– Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter, and
Wired– Intel (R) 82567V-2 Gigabit Network Connection (We will turn it off).
Right-click on the device name and click " Disable".
A message will appear stating that the device will not work when turned off.
Please note that the main devices (hard drive, processor) cannot be turned off - point " Disable" is simply not in the drop-down menu. Yes, this is not surprising.
After disconnecting the device, an arrow in a circle will appear on its icon, indicating that the device is not currently working.
The question is, how can you then turn on a previously disabled device? What if we need it? Everything is done in the same way, but select the item " Engage". After this, the device will turn on again and will work the same way as before it was turned off. In some cases, you may have to restart the computer for the programs to work correctly.
If you are still a novice computer user, then do not disable devices in the manager unless absolutely necessary, otherwise you may encounter the fact that some programs will refuse to work. In any case, there is nothing wrong with this, since a previously turned off device can be turned on again. Therefore, if difficulties arise, there is no need to panic. You just need to find the disabled device in Device Manager and enable it.
How else can Windows 7 Device Manager be useful?
You may need a device manager when upgrading your computer hardware (upgrade). In Device Manager, you can see which driver is used to manage the hard drive. So, for example, in the tab "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"we see that a controller driver is used to control the hard drive Intel (R) ICH10 Family 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1 – 3A20. Your controller may have a different driver. We also see that other adapters and controllers for interacting with SD memory cards and Memory Stick are registered in the same tab.
Also using " Device Manager"You can update drivers for specific devices, as well as view hardware parameters and properties through the item" Properties".
Device Manager is a very useful application that is required to be installed on all modern Windows computers. By opening it, you will find a list of components that are currently on the computer or connected to it.
It is much more useful and interesting to look at the status of devices in the manager. If you feel that your computer or a specific device is unstable, then go there.
Non-functioning elements will have a special sign. In addition, here you can view important information about device drivers. If there is something wrong with the computer components, then a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark will be located next to them.
But how can you get into this wonderful application and start using it to the fullest? We will consider these issues using the example of all popular operating systems.
Let's start with, perhaps, the oldest and gradually dying OS - Windows XP. Nowadays it is used less and less, but there are still thousands of users who are interested in how to use the device manager on this particular system.
How to open Device Manager through My Computer
How to get to Device Manager:
Alternative connection method through the “Control Panel”
It is a little longer, but perhaps it will be more convenient.
A few quick ways
There are also very short, but not easy ways for everyone:
Note! These methods work equally well on all versions
Whichever method you choose, you will find yourself in the “Device Manager” itself. This is a window in which all types of devices are visible and displayed. By clicking on which, a list with specific PC elements opens.
By double-clicking on an element, you will see information about it, including information about drivers.
How to open Device Manager in Windows 7
The next truly popular system was Windows 7. Fortunately, the Manager has not disappeared from it. Please note that the dispatcher in this version has changed visually. It is still extremely useful for working with hardware and its drivers.
You can get into it by following slightly different instructions from those in XP.
Method 1
One of the most convenient ways is to use the Start menu search bar. This is done as follows:
That's all, this is a really simple and convenient way. In general, in the operating system Windows 7 and subsequent ones, the search mechanism is very well implemented. Searching for files and programs is very easy. Device Manager is no exception.
Note! Similarly, you can open the desired program by inserting the string “devmgmt.msc” into the search bar or into the Run application.
Method 2
In general, there are quite a few ways to achieve our goal in Win 7. Let's look at another one:
Method 3
Another way:
Method 4
Open “Device Manager” through “Control Panel”.
Open Device Manager in Windows 10
Next, we will look at the process of launching the manager on the more modern and progressive Windows 10 OS. It appeared relatively recently and users are still interested in the question of opening the good old “Device Manager”.
First of all, use the search icon. This is still one of the fastest and most convenient ways to get to the dispatcher. Visually, the Start menu and search bar have received major changes, but the mechanism for using them remains the same as in Windows 7.
Another way to open Device Manager is by right-clicking on the Start icon.
You can open the very convenient “Device Manager” on any operating system, and it’s quite easy to do.
Video - How to open Device Manager in Windows 7/8/8.1/10
In a computer, as in an army, the commands of the commander in chief (the processor) must be carried out quickly and accurately. System and peripheral combat units within the PC act harmoniously, each knows the assigned task and receives from the system the necessary resources to successfully complete it. It’s just that in the army the operational headquarters monitors the interaction of various branches of the military, and in a personal computer these functions are performed by the Windows Device Manager.
Calling the Windows 7 Device Manager
Device Manager is a special program that allows you to flexibly interact with the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which first appeared in Windows 95. Using the manager, the user can view all devices installed on the PC, obtain information about the resources allocated to them, and control how they are turned on/off , as well as manipulate drivers.
There are several ways to open the Device Manager window:
- using the Windows Control Panel;
- via the command line or the Run window;
- through the interface of the OS itself.
Since the dispatcher is formally located in the control panel, to call it we will first need to open this panel:
You can do without searching. To do this, select the “System and Security” section in the control panel and go to the “Device Manager” menu item in the “System” subsection.
You can also launch the console snap-in through the Computer Management window.
You can launch the dispatcher even faster by calling it by file name. To do this, you just need to open the “Run” window (Win + R), write devmgmt.msc in it and click OK. Using another hotkey - Win+Pause - you can open the "System" window of the Windows Control Panel, which also contains a link to launch the Device Manager.
Showing hidden hardware in Device Manager
The manager window provides graphical information from the Microsoft management console about the equipment installed on a personal computer or laptop. Devices in the list can be grouped either by type or by connection. You can change the grouping principle by selecting the appropriate item in the “View” menu.
The Windows 7 Device Manager window provides information about the hardware installed on your personal computer.
Devices that are not recognized by the system (for example, if there are no drivers installed for them) or operate with errors are marked with a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark inside.
However, in its standard form, the device manager does not show all the equipment known to it, because the system may also contain so-called hidden devices. One of the typical types of such equipment are devices with previously installed drivers, which are now disabled. To view hidden devices, go to the “View” menu of the manager and check the “Show hidden devices” checkbox.
There is one more small but important nuance when displaying hidden devices.. Device Manager stores information even about those previously installed devices that are currently disabled (physically absent, disabled in the BIOS, etc.). The environment variable DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES is responsible for displaying this type of equipment. If it is assigned the value 0, then the device data will not be shown to the user. Before starting the MMC console, the value of this variable is checked by the devmgr.dll library. It is worth mentioning that such ghost devices can cause conflicts with existing equipment. So, when installing a new network card, the system can warn you about a conflict of IP addresses with the controller that was installed in this PC sometime in the past. To obtain information about installed but currently disabled hardware in Device Manager, follow these steps:
In the future, these two commands can be formatted as a bat file to significantly simplify launching the device manager with the parameters you need.
If Device Manager does not open
Sometimes users face problems when opening Device Manager using any of the methods described above. It may simply not start, or a window may appear indicating various errors. In the vast majority of cases, this behavior of the operating system is caused by the consequences of computer viruses. It also happens that the device manager files on the disk are damaged or missing, which can also be caused by the machinations of malware that have entered your PC from the network. In any case, the first thing you should do is check your computer for viruses and, if any are found, get rid of them. If you do not have any anti-virus software installed, we recommend downloading at least a portable, constantly updated and free utility from Dr.Web and checking your PC with it.
If the problem with starting the manager cannot be solved by cleaning it from viruses, use the built-in capabilities of the OS to find errors and restore damaged system files. To do this you will need to do the following:
You can independently check the presence of the necessary files in the System32 subdirectory of your OS. If you have problems launching the Device Manager, you should make sure that the devmgmt.msc file itself is present on the disk, as well as the libraries devmgmr.dll, msxml3.dll, msxml6.dll and others. If these files are missing, you will have to use a bootable LiveCD and manually copy them from the Windows 7 distribution.
Common problems when working with Device Manager
If you were able to successfully launch Device Manager, you may still encounter a number of problems while working with it. For example, the device you need will not be displayed in the list, the dispatcher will not be able to detect it when updating the equipment configuration, or even the dispatcher window will be completely empty. Our advice will help you overcome these unpleasant moments.
Empty Device Manager
There are several main reasons why the dispatcher window can shine with pristine whiteness.
Most likely, malicious viruses, for example, may again be to blame for this. In this case, scan your PC with an anti-virus scanner and get rid of unwanted “guests”. For the Apropos virus, the easiest solution is to use the utility. Boot your computer into Safe Mode, extract the AproposFix files from the archive and run the RunThis.bat file. When the virus removal procedure is completed, the program will write a log file to disk, which will list everything that was found and fixed (or deleted).
Another reason for an empty device manager may be a disabled Plug & Play system service, which is responsible for recognizing changes in installed hardware. To enable this service, you must complete the following steps.
In addition, you may not have access to entries that describe devices in the system registry. To resolve this issue, you will need to launch Registry Editor and follow these steps:
What to do if an unknown device is detected
Windows considers unknown equipment to be any hardware for which there is no driver, or one exists, but is intended for a different version of the system, or the OS was unable to recognize the device identifier code used in the Plug & Play standard. The most often unknown are complex and composite devices that work in the USB and IEEE 1394 standards and do not fall into any of the classes defined for Windows and supported by the system.
Such a device is marked in the dispatcher with a special icon - an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle.
Unknown devices are marked with a special icon in the form of an exclamation mark on a yellow background
In order for Windows OS to see and recognize the connected device, you must install its driver, either using the update center or downloading the installation package yourself from the equipment manufacturer’s website. To do this, right-click on the unknown hardware, select “Update driver” from the menu that opens and follow the system prompts.
Video: how to install a driver through Device Manager
If you don't know what kind of device it is and where to get a driver for it, try searching for the required software by hardware identifier.
Video: how to find a driver by device ID
Problems with USB ports
Since the USB controller, like any equipment, interacts with the OS through a driver, first make sure that all the necessary drivers are installed from the motherboard disk.
If everything is fine with installing the drivers, but your computer suddenly stops detecting USB devices, a simple system reboot can help you. Restart your computer normally. With a high degree of probability, we can assume that after a restart this trouble will disappear without a trace.
In the case when an immediate reboot is undesirable for some reason (for example, you are running some long-running task that you don’t want to interrupt), you can use the device manager for a gentle “reboot” (restarting only hardware drivers).
Another way to get the ports to work is to remove and then rearrange the USB controllers.
If you consider yourself a fairly experienced user who knows how to handle the Windows system registry correctly and without destructive consequences for the PC, you can try another error correction option to get rid of the problem with USB ports. To do this, launch from the “Start” menu or using the “Run” window (Win + R) call the regedit registry editor and perform the following actions in it:
COM and LPT ports are missing in Device Manager
Sometimes you may need to configure the parameters of a serial COM port (for example, if you want to connect a programmer or a specialized industrial controller to your computer), and this section, as well as the ports themselves, are not in the device manager. It should be noted that in modern computers, especially laptops and netbooks, COM and LPT ports may be completely absent on the motherboard as unnecessary. The required ports can simply be disabled in the BIOS and therefore not appear in the manager. If you want to use a COM or LPT port, be sure to go into the BIOS and enable this type of hardware. It's a good idea to make sure that the drivers for your computer's motherboard are installed and up to date.
If the above tips do not help, there is an option to force these ports from the Device Manager itself. To do this you need:
- In the “Action” menu, select “Install old device”.
To install missing ports, select “Install old device”
- Select the required type of equipment.
In the list of equipment types, select the line “Ports (COM and LPT)”
- Select the required port.
We indicate which port we need to install: serial (COM) or parallel (LPT, printer port)
- If necessary, configure the port that appears in the device manager.
All that remains is to configure the port that appears in the list of equipment or update its driver
The printer connected to the PC was not detected
First of all, make sure that the printer is physically connected to the PC. Check the cord itself, as well as the condition of the connectors on the printer and motherboard. If your printer is not listed in the device manager, but is visible in the Devices and Printers section of the control panel and prints with noticeable delays, this may indicate that it does not have enough USB power. This problem can be resolved by connecting the printer not directly to the PC, but via a USB hub with additional power to the ports. If you are working on a laptop, you should make sure that the USB controller does not turn off when switching to power-saving mode. To do this, you will need to prevent Windows from managing the power supply of the USB controller so that the OS does not turn off this equipment when it is forced to idle in order to save energy.
Uncheck the box that allows the system to turn off the USB controller to save power
If your printer supports Plug and Play, but when you connect it, it does not appear in the Device Manager under "Printers", make sure that there are no other unknown devices in the device manager. It is possible that the drivers for the printer have crashed, and now the dispatcher simply cannot identify it correctly. Reinstall the drivers and restart your computer.
If you are using an older printing device that does not support this standard, remember that Device Manager considers such equipment hidden by default. To display equipment of this type in the tree of installed devices, check the “Show hidden devices” option in the “View” menu. Then look for information about the printer in the “Non-plug and play device drivers” section.
Information about printers that do not support the Plug&Play standard can be found in the “Non-plug and play device drivers” section
What to do if the monitor is recognized as universal
Modern monitors in most cases are recognized by the system as a “Universal PnP Monitor” and do not require the installation of special drivers. But for older monitors this may be a problem. Often Windows sets them to "Default Standard Driver (VGA)". However, this mode may not support the monitor's native resolution or refresh rate, which may cause inconvenience when using the computer. Usually the monitor is not detected correctly if the native drivers for the video adapter have not been installed.
For many modern monitors, a standard driver is sufficient, but it may not work correctly with older models.
To install the required monitor driver, boot your computer in safe mode. Uninstall the video card driver and restart the computer again. The system should recognize your monitor again, after which you can reinstall the drivers for the video adapter.
If your monitor supports multiple connection methods to a PC, try connecting it in a different way, for example, use an HDMI port instead of a DVI port, or connect the PC's DVI connector via an adapter to the monitor's VGA connector.
Sometimes it is impossible to properly calibrate a monitor without native drivers
Disk drive missing from device manager
If you are using an IDE or SATA drive, make sure it is recognized correctly in the appropriate BIOS window. The absence of a drive in the BIOS settings may be due to a poor connection of the power cable, insufficient output power of the built-in power supply, or even an incorrect combination of Master/Slave switches (jumpers) that distribute the roles of devices connected via one IDE cable. If the drive is detected in the BIOS, remove and reinstall the IDE/ATAPI drivers:
After reboot, the drivers will be installed automatically.
If you use an external or internal USB drive, visit the motherboard manufacturer's website to download and install the latest drivers specifically for your model of USB controller built into the chipset. It is worth noting that in such circumstances, problems with the PC will not be limited only to the disk drive; flash drives and other devices connected via the universal serial bus will also not work.
Perhaps the lack of a disk drive is caused by third-party software for working with CD and DVD drives (utilities for burning disks, creating virtual drives in the system, etc.). Uninstall the program data from your PC and restart your computer. If the situation does not improve, try manually clearing the registry of possible changes they may have made. For this:
Video: how to restore a disk drive in Windows 7 Device Manager
Device Manager does not see video cards
If your graphics card was not working at all, you would hardly see the Device Manager window. Perhaps the system simply could not find the necessary drivers and identified the video card as a standard VGA video adapter. Find this line in the manager and update the driver for the device, having first downloaded the latest version from the manufacturer’s website, designed specifically for your operating system. It is worth remembering that for NVidia video cards there are different drivers for video adapters on desktop computers and graphics cards installed in laptops. For the latter, look for drivers with an "M" at the end of the series (for example, NVidia 9600M Series, not NVidia GeForce 9600 Series).
In addition, you should make sure that there are no unknown devices in the manager. For example, the nVIDIA video card driver on Sony laptops may not install correctly if the SFEP driver is not installed on the system (the Sony Firmware Extension Parser device is considered unknown in the manager).
If the driver is installed incorrectly, the video adapter is defined as standard, and unidentified objects appear in the “Other devices” section
If the PC configuration simultaneously contains a built-in and discrete graphics card, one of the video adapters may generally be recognized as an unknown device. In this case, install the required driver from the disk included with the video card or download it from the Internet. In the case of two video adapters, one of them may be physically disabled, as a result of which it is not in the manager. Check if integrated video or PCI-E graphics card is enabled in BIOS. A similar operation can be done programmatically using the NVIDIA or Catalyst Control Center control panels. If the video adapter was turned off, turn it on and it will appear in the manager.
If the video adapter was configured normally, functioned without errors and suddenly disappeared, try to roll back the system to a restore point where everything was fine with it.
Don't panic if you accidentally disabled your only video adapter from Device Manager and your screen went blank. Restart your computer in Safe Mode and turn on the video adapter in the manager again. If the configuration has built-in and discrete video cards, using the BIOS you can switch the device to which the initial image output will be carried out.
In this case, resetting the BIOS to default values also helps.
Device Manager is, of course, essential for managing your computer. Without it, you won't be able to configure your hardware properly to get the most out of your PC. The key to reliable operation of the OS without annoying errors and crashes is keeping the drivers of the devices involved up to date, disabling unnecessary equipment and reinstalling problematic components. Windows Device Manager will help you with this.
I often see statements (or questions) in the comments to my articles: “I don’t have a device manager.”
At first, this made me smile - they say that a person gives - everyone has something he doesn’t have.
Usually they are accompanied by the words: how to find, go, enter, where to find, how to turn on, how to call, how to open, how to run, how to see, how to get in.
Once, after thinking a little, I realized that this was not a joke, so I decided to write a detailed article on where the device manager is located.
From the very beginning I will immediately say that all computers have it in Windows 7, Windows 8, Vista, XP, and always in the same places.
To make it clear to everyone where the device manager is located, I will show you in pictures. First of all, open the control panel.
This is where the difficulties begin - the device manager should be there, but it is not - instead you see a picture like below.
How to open Device Manager
As you can see from the picture, it is really not possible to open the device manager, although it is there. Where is he then?
The thing is that by default it is in a collapsed state.
To expand it you need to perform one small movement: at the top, on the right side, click on the “categories” option.
Then select “large icons”, then the control panel will take on a completely different look. See fig. below:
That's all. Now you can safely open the device manager (where it is known), and this state of the control panel will always remain.
Now that you know where the device manager is located, how it can help you. Using it you can update drivers.
If you see yellow punctuation marks there, it means the computer will definitely need your intervention.
But the device manager has a small drawback. It searches for drivers only in the Microsoft database, which is limited.
In most cases, you have to look for drivers in other places. If at the office There is no website, then look for it.
It is best to “go” to the official sites and download them from there. This is the best option. It’s possible in other places, you just need to know where, otherwise it’s easy to “run into” scammers. So be careful.
Having opened the device manager and seeing that you cannot update or install the necessary components, I do not recommend resorting to programs that automatically scan your computer and offer assistance in installing drivers - this can be dangerous.
That's all, I think now the expressions of how to find, go, log in, where to find, be, how to turn on, how to call, how to open, how to run, how to look or how to get to the device manager on my site will decrease significantly. If you have any questions, write them in the comments.
Device Manager is a component of the Windows operating system that is designed to manage devices connected to your computer. Device Manager first appeared in Windows 95 and was later added to Windows 2000. In NT versions of the Windows operating system, it appeared as a snap-in in the Microsoft Management Console.
Device Manager displays all connected devices. Here you can determine whether the connected device is working correctly, change its operating parameters, and install or remove drivers. In order to determine how a device works, you just need to pay attention to its icon. If a device is not working properly, it will be indicated in Device Manager by an icon with a black exclamation point inside a yellow triangle. If the device is not recognized by the operating system, it will be indicated by a yellow question mark. A disabled device is indicated by a red cross or a gray down arrow. Knowing these symbols, you can quickly determine which device has problems and what needs to be done to solve them.
In many instructions for setting up the Windows operating system that are published on the Internet, you can find recommendations on using Device Manager. But it is not always explained to the user in sufficient detail how to open Device Manager, what it is and how to work with it.
In this article, we will try to close this gap by describing all the main ways to open Device Manager in all major versions of the Windows operating system.
How to open Device Manager in Windows 10 or Windows 8
If you are using the Windows 10 or Windows 8 operating system, you can open Device Manager using a new menu that opens using the Windows-X key combination or by right-clicking on the START menu.
This menu appeared in Windows 8 and has since been available in all versions of Windows. In addition to Device Manager, you can use it to open other standard utilities of the Windows operating system. For example, using this menu you can open Power Management, Event Viewer, Network Connections, Disk Management, Computer Management, etc.
How to open Device Manager in Windows 7
There are different ways to open Device Manager in Windows 7. The following algorithm is most often used: open , and open the section “ system and safety».
In chapter " system and safety"Open the "System" section.
After this, a window will open with the main characteristics of this computer. Here you need to click on the link " device Manager", which is located on the left side of the window.
After this, the Windows 7 Device Manager window will open in front of you.
How to open Device Manager in Windows XP
In Windows XP, Device Manager opens in a similar way. First, open the Start menu and go to Control Panel. In the Control Panel you need to open the “System” section.
After this, the window “ Properties of the system" Here you need to go to the “Equipment” tab.
On the equipment tab, click on the button " device Manager».
After this, the Device Manager window will open in front of you.
How to open Device Manager using command
There are also universal ways to open Device Manager that work in any version of Windows. For example, this can be done by running the command “mmc devmgmt.msc”. To do this, open the “Run” menu (key combination Windows-R) or the command line and enter “mmc devmgmt.msc”. This command works on Windows 10, Windows 7 and Windows XP.
In the Windows 7 operating system, as well as in newer versions of Windows, you can use the search bar to open Device Manager. To do this, you just need to open the Start menu and enter the phrase “Device Manager” into the search, and then open the program suggested by the system.
If you have Windows 8, which does not have a Start menu, then you can enter the phrase “Device Manager” into the search form on the Start screen.
